4 ms·

the problem is they are making more money by having a few units empty while renting the rest at higher rents. the landlord is making more money, people are bei

the problem is they are making more money by having a few units empty while renting the rest at higher rents. the landlord is making more money, people are being squeezed for all they got, and less people have homes. this is a huge drag on the economy and adversely affects every single person in a region except the rent seeking landlords. Even if you own it is a negative as your CoL is going to go up as stores need to charge more to pay employees more so they can afford homes.

chucksta 2y ago
So someone has to step up and be squeezed for all they've got so people have homes? Who is going to volunteer for that?
- text0404 2y ago
  landlords should prioritize filling units. if they insist on squeezing people for rent while leaving inventory unfilled, they should be squeezed by regulations.
  - chucksta 2y ago
    Theoretically that works for current landlords - what happens in a year or two when there are now no new rentals on the market because there are no new landlords because who would take that deal?
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    Isn't this what Vancouver did, by levying additional taxes on vacant units? (In that case, for absent buyers parking money, but same effect)
zbrozek 2y ago
It's surely a drag, but I think we don't know how big of a drag it is. My expectation is that it's small. What are the overall vacancy rates? Single digit percent? If yes, then it's not a big impact.
- unclebucknasty 2y ago
  >What are the overall vacancy rates? I don't believe that's the only measure of economic drag. For instance if, having no choice, people are spending a higher percentage of their income on rent, then it leaves less to spend on other economically stimulative activity, like frequenting a local coffee shop, buying clothes, etc.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    This. 30%+ of income just to acquire rental shelter isn't healthy. Especially when that regressively scales with income (i.e. people who make less pay a larger percent of their total income). And especially when the siphoned capital isn't being reinvested in new housing (because landlords and investors would rather collude and boost profit margins on existing stock).
- kthejoker2 2y ago
  Again, link in article we are all commenting on says vacancy rates are 30+% in New York metro. So seems like "we" (ie people who read the article before commenting) do in fact know how big a drag it is in certain markets.
  - zbrozek 2y ago
    The article didn't say that at all. And vacancy rates in NYC aren't 30%. They're ~1.4%. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/nyregion/apartment-vacancy-rate-housing-crisis.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/nyregion/apartment-vacanc... I'm not claiming that this kind of service is good, or that having a trial is bad. I'm actually really interested in the judicial opinion because I could see it going either way. What I am saying is that it just doesn't feel plausible that this software is single handedly moving the market in a big way. People really do want to point to a single boogeyman for housing unaffordability. And that's too simplistic. Nationally we're short millions of units at a time when we're wealthier than ever. Low supply and high demand means rising prices. Fix it by making units easy and cheap to build.
    - 2y ago

chucksta 2y ago

So someone has to step up and be squeezed for all they've got so people have homes? Who is going to volunteer for that?

text0404 2y ago
landlords should prioritize filling units. if they insist on squeezing people for rent while leaving inventory unfilled, they should be squeezed by regulations.
- chucksta 2y ago
  Theoretically that works for current landlords - what happens in a year or two when there are now no new rentals on the market because there are no new landlords because who would take that deal?
- ethbr1 2y ago
  Isn't this what Vancouver did, by levying additional taxes on vacant units? (In that case, for absent buyers parking money, but same effect)

zbrozek 2y ago

It's surely a drag, but I think we don't know how big of a drag it is. My expectation is that it's small. What are the overall vacancy rates? Single digit percent? If yes, then it's not a big impact.

unclebucknasty 2y ago
>What are the overall vacancy rates? I don't believe that's the only measure of economic drag. For instance if, having no choice, people are spending a higher percentage of their income on rent, then it leaves less to spend on other economically stimulative activity, like frequenting a local coffee shop, buying clothes, etc.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  This. 30%+ of income just to acquire rental shelter isn't healthy. Especially when that regressively scales with income (i.e. people who make less pay a larger percent of their total income). And especially when the siphoned capital isn't being reinvested in new housing (because landlords and investors would rather collude and boost profit margins on existing stock).
kthejoker2 2y ago
Again, link in article we are all commenting on says vacancy rates are 30+% in New York metro. So seems like "we" (ie people who read the article before commenting) do in fact know how big a drag it is in certain markets.
- zbrozek 2y ago
  The article didn't say that at all. And vacancy rates in NYC aren't 30%. They're ~1.4%. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/nyregion/apartment-vacancy-rate-housing-crisis.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/nyregion/apartment-vacanc... I'm not claiming that this kind of service is good, or that having a trial is bad. I'm actually really interested in the judicial opinion because I could see it going either way. What I am saying is that it just doesn't feel plausible that this software is single handedly moving the market in a big way. People really do want to point to a single boogeyman for housing unaffordability. And that's too simplistic. Nationally we're short millions of units at a time when we're wealthier than ever. Low supply and high demand means rising prices. Fix it by making units easy and cheap to build.
  - 2y ago